Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico is an unincorporated island territory of the United States, located in the Caribbean islands. San Juan is the capital of Puerto Rico, which had a population of 3,474,182 people in 2015; Spanish is the predominant language on the island. Puerto Rico was claimed for Spain in 1493 by Christopher Columbus, and the island was originally called "San Juan" after John the Baptist, while the capital was called "Puerto Rico" (meaning "rich port" in Spanish); traders and maritime visiters confused the names, leading to the island itself coming to be known as Puerto Rico. Spain ruled Puerto Rico until 1898, when the United States took over the island during the Spanish-American War. It has been a territory of the United States ever since the end of the war, and Puerto Ricans have consistenly agitated for either statehood or independence; Puerto Rico's massive debt crisis during the 2010s impeded statehood.